After the decision to cut both D1 men’s and women’s hockey teams came out of the blue, Robert Morris University faced a lot of pushback from supporters of the teams. Over $32,000 and $427,000 in private donations have been put forward on a GoFundMe page.

Things escalated even further when the CEO of Black Bear Sports, Murry Gunty, offered to buy the RMU Island Sports Center to potentially save the two teams. The plan was to buy the arena and fund the teams for at least a few more years of hockey at RMU.

Gunty and Black Beart Sports submitted their offer to Robert Morris and then received a non-disclosure agreement back, but following this, there were crickets from the school and nothing Black Bear could do to advance the purchase.

“The school did not respond to our initial offer so we went public with our desire to help. They served up an unworkable non-disclosure agreement. It felt like I was being stonewalled,“ Gunty told Colonial Sports Network.

Robert Morris then ended discussions with Gunty on the potential purchase of the Island Sports Center by Black Bear Sports. Gunty broke the news on Thursday evening via Twitter.

Just got word. @rmu won't engage in any discussions with me regarding saving the @RMUMHockey and @RMUWHockey. Truly stunning. @penguins

— murry gunty (@MurryGunty) June 10, 2021

Many former players were holding out hope that the programs would return and thus have not announced their transfer plans publicly. The only transfers reported so far have been Emily Curlett, Lexi Templeman, and Raygan Kirk heading to Ohio State.

With the haste of this decision and the negligence towards a program revival, it is looking like RMU hockey has come to an end.

“We don’t have any specific plans to bring the programs back. You have seen the numbers, and they are not insignificant and that is sitting out there,” RMU president Dr. Chris Howard said to the media on June 1st.

52 student-athletes still have to find homes and Colonial Sports Network will keep you updated on all the transfer news as it happens.